Kremlin: No proof in Mueller’s report of Russian meddling

MOSCOW – The Kremlin argued on Friday that Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s 400-page report has not offered any credible evidence of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

The redacted report presented on Thursday said that there was no collusion between the Donald Trump campaign and Russian officials but it did document Russian efforts to meddle in the presidential vote.

The publication of the redacted report offered Russian officials another “I-told-you-so” moment to deny any efforts to help Trump win the U.S. presidency.

Special counsel Robert Mueller’s redacted report on the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election is photographed Thursday, April 18, 2019, in Washington. The report contained two volumes. (AP Photo/Jon Elswick)

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Friday that there is “no evidence substantiated by any facts” that Russia interfered in the election, and said stressed that Moscow rejects the accusations.

Peskov pointed out that President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly denied the claims of interference “because there was none.”

In the upper chamber of the Russian Parliament, the chairman of the information committee, Alexei Pushkov, on Friday mocked the Mueller probe for spending millions of dollars of taxpayers’ money without ever proving there was any collusion between Trump and the Kremlin, instead charging Trump’s former campaign chief with illegal lobbying on behalf of Ukraine.

Most of the Russian media on Thursday and Friday made a point of rejecting the well-documented findings about Russian interference in the 2016 elections via hacking and a social media campaign.

State-owned Rossiya television channel said in its report on the Vesti. Economy program late on Thursday that the report is not credible because it has failed to release the content of hacked emails or “specific files.”

“The Mueller probe was an attempt to threaten the current government and influence U.S. foreign policy without offering any specific evidence,” Vesti. Economy said. /gsg